A necessary debate for the clarification of positions and principles

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On 23 November, the Internationalist Communist tendency (ICT) held a public meeting in Paris on the theme: ‘Faced with the rise of nationalist wars and confrontations, the only perspective is the internationalist class struggle’.

In addition to the ICT, the meeting was attended by militants from the International Communist Party - Le Prolétaire (ICP), the International Communist Current (ICC), a representative of the International Group of the Communist Left (IGCL), and several sympathisers from these different organisations.

The ICT has already published a report on this meeting on its website[1]. We do not claim to be exhaustive, but simply wish to briefly underline the crucial points which, for us, emerged from the discussion.

The emergence of a new generation

The presence of a relatively large audience at this public meeting, characterised in part by its youth, is a very significant fact about the current dynamics of our class. The ‘summer of anger’ in 2022 in the United Kingdom, the series of strikes which affected almost every sector for several months, was a sign that the proletariat was returning to the path of struggle after more than twenty years of passivity. Faced with the blows of the economic crisis and the relentless attacks by capital and its governments, workers are once again ready to strike, demonstrate and fight.

This dynamic is also marked by a near-invisible global process: the considerable effort of reflection that our class is in the process of producing. Faced with the impasse in the system, a whole range of questions is germinating in the minds of the workers. This is why minorities are appearing in the four corners of the globe, seeking out revolutionary positions and coming into contact with groups in the proletarian camp, those who defend the autonomy of the class and internationalism. Apart from the greater participation in meetings of the organisations of the Communist Left, there are many other signs, such as the emergence of conferences on internationalism (in Arezzo, Prague, Brussels, etc.). But the most significant is surely the attitude of the bourgeoisie itself. Its extreme left is becoming increasingly radical in its language, no longer hesitating to emphasise the need for revolution, and its trade unions are increasingly militant and united in advocating ‘class trade unionism’. For the left wing of capital, it's a question of playing its part in attracting the growing numbers of young people who want to fight.

The historical responsibility of the groups of the Communist Left

The Communist Left has a historical responsibility to pass on to the new generation that is slowly emerging the positions, methods and principles that it inherited from the workers' movement. These lessons, acquired through long struggles over two centuries, are absolutely vital for the future; there can be no victorious international proletarian revolution if they are forgotten.

The ICT meeting held in Paris must be evaluated in the light of this requirement, which is binding on all groups of the Communist Left.

1. Debate with the aim of clarification

The presentation made by the ICT to launch the discussion clearly set out the following points:

  • In the 19th century, certain national liberation struggles could be supported by revolutionaries, when they made it possible to sweep away the last feudal fetters and thus accelerate the development of capitalism. But since the beginning of the 20th century, in this system in decline, it is no longer the formation of capitalist nations that is on the order of the day, but international proletarian revolution.
  • The current development of war and chaos in Ukraine, Gaza and elsewhere is the product of the capitalist system.
  • Faced with this situation, only the working class is in a position to oppose the system which is generating this increasingly barbaric situation: capitalism.
  • Against the nationalist campaigns in which the bourgeoisie tries to mobilise the working class in defence of one side against another, revolutionaries must defend proletarian internationalism within the class.

The ICC intervened from the outset to support the broad lines of the presentation. In particular, we underlined the effort made to adopt a historical approach in order to understand these different questions, which are so crucial for the development of class consciousness and the future of the proletarian struggle. This is why we felt it necessary to stress the profound changes brought about by the entry of capitalism into its phase of decadence. As the Communist International proclaimed at its foundation in March 1919: the experience of the carnage of the 1914 war and the international revolutionary wave that followed proved that the world had entered ‘the era of wars and revolutions’: capitalism, now decadent, had nothing more to offer humanity, and the only alternative was its destruction by world proletarian revolution. From then on, war became capitalism's way of life; every nation, every bourgeoisie, big or small, was imperialist and contributed to the war and nationalist fever. In this new configuration, national liberation struggles and the call for self-determination, supported by revolutionaries in certain circumstances during the ascendant period, became obsolete and reactionary orientations and watchwords.

The ICP, for its part, defended an entirely different approach: faithful to its theory of invariance, the idea that the communist programme had been established once and for all in 1848 and that nothing could be added or modified since then, it maintained that national liberation struggles were still possible today. Consistent with this approach, the ICP and its sympathiser therefore defended the legitimacy of the Palestinian people's struggle against Israeli oppression (without, of course, at any time supporting Hamas or any local bourgeois faction). The ICP supporter even said that for him not to support the Palestinian people when they were being massacred, tortured and subjected to the most appalling barbarity was a form of indifferentism towards all this suffering.

In response, several speakers tried to show that national liberation struggles are a trap that chains part of the working class to the domination of its own bourgeoisie. In the face of this, we must brandish the slogan already contained in the Manifesto: Proletarians have no country!

If, during this first part of the debate, the ICT and the ICC together defended the same general political position, two nuances also emerged:

  • Unlike the ICC, ICT militants never uttered the words ‘ascendance’ and ‘decadence’ to define the two great phases in the life of capitalism. In our view, these terms reflect the most accurate and precise vision of the profound and historical evolution of the system.
  • The ICT said that it recognises the existence of oppressed nations and oppressing nations, which for the ICC is a mistake because it maintains an ambiguity when it comes to firmly insisting that all nations, large or small, well or poorly armed, are imperialist.

The second part of the discussion was devoted to the historical issues at stake today: war and class struggle.

In many of the interventions, in particular those of the ICT and the ICP, the vision defended was that of a course towards the Third World War (or towards the ‘generalisation of war’, we confess that we did not necessarily understand whether there was a difference between these two terms). There is in this position a pessimistic assessment of the state of the working class and its struggles.

The ICC then developed another assessment of the situation: capitalism is not heading for a third world war in the foreseeable future, but is in the process of decomposition. In concrete terms, this means a proliferation of warlike conflicts (as in Ukraine, Palestine, Syria, etc.), a disintegration of the social fabric (atomisation, a rise in violence, racism and identitarian isolationism, the gangrene of drugs and trafficking, etc.), an erosion of coherent and rational thought... This is no less a danger than the possibility of a third world war, both of which lead to the disappearance of human civilisation. On the other hand, this latter approach makes it possible to understand the reality unfolding before our eyes in all its complexity and chaos, to link together phenomena that may appear independent of one another, or even contradictory[2].

As for the class struggle, for the ICC, the proletariat is not defeated today. It is this strength of the proletariat, particularly in Europe and North America, which for 40 years prevented the Cold War from turning into the Third World War. Today, the proletariat has even begun to take up the struggle again and is trying to develop its reflection, its consciousness. As we said in the introduction, since 2022 and the series of strikes known as the ‘Summer of Anger’ in the UK, the ICC has been highlighting the return of workers' combativity[3].

All these disagreements within the meeting were expressed in a very warm and open atmosphere, where everyone was keen to understand and respond to each other's positions in an argued manner.

This positive moment must serve as a benchmark: the groups of the Communist Left must develop the debate between them much more - the confrontation of their political positions, the participation in the public meetings of each other. Our newspapers and magazines must also participate in this process of clarification; there are far too few public polemics between our groups. While the ICP and the ICC write articles in response to each other, an effort that we must pursue and amplify together, the ICT almost systematically refuses this public debate, and our letters and articles remain dead letters.

2. Uniting around the fundamental positions of the proletarian camp

There was one moment at the ICT meeting which should particularly attract our attention: although all the interventions all clearly underlined the points of disagreement, some young participants intervened to say that they did not really understand what distinguished the positions of the different organisations present.

These remarks reveal an essential point: the organisations of the Communist Left, however important their differences may be, have in common a history, a heritage and fundamental positions.

The title of the meeting itself summed up this unity: ‘Faced with the rise of nationalist wars and confrontations, the only perspective is the internationalist class struggle’. All the speakers at this debate were keen to stand up against imperialist wars, to defend proletarian internationalism and to reflect on the development of workers' struggle and consciousness.

The dynamic of this meeting is further concrete proof that the different groups of the Communist Left have a twofold responsibility: to confront their differences in a collective process of clarification and to come together to defend, with a stronger voice, what they have essentially in common.

This is why, in each of its interventions, the ICC has systematically issued a joint appeal insisting that we should be able to defend with one voice the internationalist position of the Communist Left in the face of the military conflicts that are developing across the planet. We also pointed out that this joint appeal could enable new generations to draw on this experience, just as we ourselves can draw on the Zimmerwald experience. It would be a milestone for the future.

And once again, both the ICT and the ICP have rejected this joint appeal.

The new generation will therefore have an important role to play here, to push the groups of the Communist Left both to polemicise amongst themselves and to unite on the cardinal points they have in common, to push the groups of the Communist Left to live up to their historical responsibility.

3. Defending the principles of the workers' movement and proletarian solidarity

Attentive readers will have noticed that we mentioned in our introduction the participation in this meeting of a representative of the IGCL, the individual Juan, without ever saying anything about his role in the debates.

Certainly, in the eyes of the participants, Juan appeared to have a fraternal attitude throughout the meeting; he took part in the debate in a clear and dynamic way, and he made some very good interventions that enabled the collective reflection to move forward.

It's true that Juan was eloquent, that his speeches were even brilliant, and that he always wore a smile and a sense of humour.

In the first part of the debate, he defended the same positions as the ICC on the trap of national liberation struggles in the period of decadence, and therefore against the invariance of the ICP. In the second part, he took up the ICP's position that the Third World War was approaching. Above all, he insisted on his agreement with the struggle being waged by the ICC to get the groups of the Communist Left to produce a joint appeal in defence of internationalism, saying that he was ready to sign it. But appearances are often deceptive.

We must therefore recall a few facts here to unmask the level of hypocrisy and manoeuvring of this individual.

Juan hit one of our comrades in the street, forcing him to go to hospital with a swelling on his face. One of his acolytes, in Juan's presence, threatened to slit the throat of another ICC militant – with our comrade quite aware that this gentleman always has a knife in his pocket. At a Lutte Ouvrière meeting where we were speaking, Juan started laughing at a comrade because he knew that the latter had just nearly died of a heart attack, rejoicing in his misfortune. So much for the reality of fraternity when there are no witnesses!

Obviously, the support shown at this meeting for the ICC's positions suffers from the same duplicity. You only have to read the IGCL’s articles to see that the backbone of this group is its hatred for our organisation. In its founding text, the IGCL states that “the International Communist Current is disintegrating before our very eyes, both theoretically, politically and organisationally, liquidating its regular press, abandoning its public meetings, having abandoned most of its principles...”. Its newsletters are peppered with gossip against the ICC. For example, under its former name of the “Internal fraction of the ICC”, it said back in 2014 in an article headlined “A new (final?) internal crisis in the ICC!, it wrote “‘The ICC is once again - according to recent internal documents - experiencing a new internal crisis (...). The militant energies wasted on psychological introspection and self-criticism cover dozens of pages of bulletins at the same time as the sections of this organisation are reducing the frequency of their publications - if not stopping them altogether - or deciding not to hold any more public meetings or to intervene in the street and in struggles. If this were not a deliberate attempt to destroy an organisation which has become a veritable sect and which is attacking the Communist Left from every angle, (...) we would not have intervened publicly on this matter, which has not yet been revealed by the organisation in crisis. But this is a matter of urgency! (...) For us, it is clear that there is a will and a conscious undertaking to destroy the militants of the ICC, their communist conviction and their communist commitment, which has been underway - it's true - for a good twenty years now. This crisis is undoubtedly the latest stage in this process”.

We are now at the end of 2024, 10 years after this somewhat premature funeral oration[4]. But let's linger for a moment over certain words: “according to recent internal documents”; “we would not have intervened publicly on this matter not yet revealed by the organisation in crisis”.

Here we come to the very essence of the IGCL, Juan's true nature, when the mask is off: snitching! Since its inception, this group (whether it calls itself IFICC or IGCL) has never ceased to publish on the internet information that affects the internal life and security of the ICC and its militants: quotes from internal bulletins, revealing militants' real initials, revealing who writes this or that article[5], dates of our internal meetings[6]... everything is covered[7].

As for Juan's statement that he agrees with a number of the ICC’s political positions, this is a deception designed to fool the participants in the ICT's public meeting, as evidenced by the numerous texts he has written distorting our positions so as to be able to slander them[8].

At the ICT meeting, we very briefly reminded everyone who Juan really is, saying: “We don't debate with snitches”. Juan's reaction was to mock our accusation, adding: ‘Yes, I'm the informer, the cop’, to which the audience laughed.

The weapon of mockery is effective and clever, it diverts and distracts, but it is also an admission that Juan cannot contradict our accusation, because he knows that all the evidence is accessible, all his acts of snitching are on the Internet.

To all those who believe that proletarian behaviour is a crucial issue, that revolutionaries cannot accept theft, blackmail, lies and manipulation, death threats and snitching, we advise them not to be fooled by Juan's derision, nor by his sycophancy towards the ICC at this meeting. The reality of his policies, his actions, his anti-ICC hatred, his snitching, you'll find it spelled out in column after column on his own website. Revolutionaries have always been extremely serious and uncompromising in their defence of principles and revolutionary organisations, starting with Marx’s struggle against Bakunin and Vogt[9].

This is why we regret that the other organisations remained silent on this question when Juan ridiculed it, just as we regret that the ICT continues to accept in its meetings an individual who is the bearer of such destructive behaviour. This tolerance turns its back on the whole tradition of the workers' movement and sullies the Communist Left. It is also a breach of the most elementary solidarity that revolutionaries owe each other.

The ICT public meeting: a positive moment, but marked by profound weaknesses that must be overcome!

This acceptance of snitching is a terrible weakness, but it must not overshadow the positive aspect of this meeting held by the ICT: the confirmation of the emergence of a new generation in search of revolutionary positions and a necessary confrontation of the positions of three organisations of the Communist Left!

It remains for our organisations to live up to their responsibilities, to around the issue of proletarian principles.

We will end this assessment in the same way as we ended the ICT meeting: by saluting the TCI and all the participants for holding this debate, and by inviting the ICT, the ICP and all those present to come and take part in our next public meetings[10].

Pawel (09/12/2024)

We would like to take this opportunity to remind you that all the information about these meetings is available on our website, in the agenda section. You can also email us at [email protected]

 

[1] We encourage our readers to read it at the following address Report on the public meeting held on 23/11/24,on leftcom.org

[2] For those who wish to better understand the theory of decomposition defended by the ICC, we recommend these three texts:

[3] Read our article: After the rupture in the class struggle, the necessity for politicisation, International Review 171

[4] At the time, we responded to this attack in an article with the humorous title News of our death is greatly exaggerated…

[5] “This text bears the hand of CG, alias Peter, as evidenced by the style and above all the reference” (IFICC Bulletin 14).

[6] Including the dates of our meetings in Mexico, a country where our comrades have been given death threats!

[9] Seeing Juan smile and act fraternal, some may doubt that such duplicity exists. So let's simply recall the words of Marx and Engels when, in The Holy Family, they describe just what a snitch generally looks like: “By trade, the Snitch was a butcher. (...) Rodolphe takes him under his protection. Let's follow the Chourineur's new education, guided by Rodolphe (...) To begin with, the Chourineur receives lessons in hypocrisy, perfidy, treachery and dissimulation, (...) in other words, he turns him into a snitch (...). He advises him to look the part (...) the Chourineur, by playing on camaraderie and inspiring confidence, leads his former companion to his doom”.

[10] We would like to take this opportunity to remind readers that all the information about our meetings is available on our website. You can also email us at [email protected]

 

Rubric: 

Public meeting of the ICT in Paris